The pause while I wait to hear
could be an instant, or forever,
held breath, smoke, fire unclear.

Dangers of the Road

Scientists tracked motorists by satellite
to see which of them would swerve
over the median to mow down small

animals, and many chose blood sport.
My friend Sarah told me how she
was terrorized by a stalker for years,

changing her address to flee this hole
of a man threatening to pull her in.
My sergeant once told me that killing

another is our passage into manhood
the same way a woman is wounded
giving birth, a screaming revelation.

Armadillos and lizards suffered equally,
with men in SUVs more likely to murder.
Sarah was walking on a secluded beach

when her terror popped up behind her.
I learned to point a rifle at an enemy
and to stick a bayonet in to the hilt.

Dangerous drivers approach us all.
She smashed in his skull with a rock.
Life began after my daughter was born.

A former U.S Army interrogator, Martin Ott lives in Los Angles, where he writes, often about his misunderstood city. He is the author of four books of poetry: Underdays, University of Notre Dame Press (2015), Captive, C&R Press, and Poets’ Guide to America and Yankee Broadcast Network (2014), co-authored with John F. Buckley, Brooklyn Arts Press. In 2013, he published The Interrogator’s Notebook, Story Merchant Books. He blogs at writeliving.wordpress.com.